The owner of an infamous San Francisco tow truck company is facing new charges after authorities say he intentionally wrecked cars to cash in on insurance money.
In a federal grand jury indictment returned Aug. 20, Jose Vicente Badillo, 28; Kirill Afanasyev, 36; Jason Naraja, 37; and Jaime Respicio, 38, were charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud in connection with two schemes to defraud auto insurance companies, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Badillo and Jessica Elizabeth Najarro were arrested this month and charged with money laundering and fraud after federal prosecutors said they purchased a wrecked car, then cashed a $34,000 insurance check for it after falsely claiming they were in an accident. The couple own and operate multiple towing companies in San Francisco, including Specialty Towing.
The new indictment alleges that Badillo loaded a vehicle carrier with four cars and in August 2019 purposefully drove them off the road in San Mateo County. After Badillo reported the supposed accident to his insurance company, and he, Afanasyev, and Naraja made false or misleading statements to a representative of the company, according to the indictment.
The insurance company denied Badillo’s claim as fraudulent but paid one of his towing companies $5,210 for recovering, towing, and storing the vehicles involved.
As part of a second scheme, Afanasyev, Badillo, and Respicio are accused of submitting a fraudulent insurance claim on a wrecked car that Afanasyev purchased in May 2019. The indictment alleges that the car was not drivable when Afanasyev bought it. Respicio obtained an insurance policy for the vehicle before Afanasyev, posing as Respicio, falsely reported to the insurance company in August 2019 that he had been in a single-car accident, authorities said. Badillo is alleged to have falsely documented that his company towed the car after the fake accident.
The insurance company approved the claim and sent Respicio a check for $47,856.34, according to the indictment.
Naraja and Respicio were arrested Tuesday in Hayward and Pleasant Hill, respectively, and released on $50,000 bonds after appearing in court Wednesday. Afanasyev is due in court Sept. 9 for his initial appearance and arraignment.
Badillo is scheduled to appear in court Friday for an arraignment in both cases, officials said.
In February, City Attorney David Chiu suspended Speciality Towing and several affiliated companies from bidding on or receiving city contracts, accusing them of illegally towing cars from private lots and pressuring owners to pay in cash.
Police launched an investigation into the company in April after a viral video appeared to show one of its trucks trying to tow an occupied car in downtown San Francisco.